Rating:  Summary: The best piece of literature I have ever read. Review: God's Debris is by far the most thought-provoking and interesting book I have ever read. I would recommend it to anyone with an open mind. As advertised, it does make your brain spin around inside your head, at least metaphorically. All the major points have been covered multiple times by other reviews, so I won't restate them here. However, the person who complained about the science being completely wrong OBVIOUSLY failed to read the introduction. Adams explains that a good part of the science is made up. Besides, as with all great books, you either love it or you hate it. There's really no middle ground. Please, do yourself a favor. Buy this book. It's great.
Rating:  Summary: a cheat and a cop-out Review: In the Introduction, Adams admits that lots of what his Avatar says is wrong, and he challenges you to figure out which parts are wrong.I call this a cop-out. It is true that Avatar advances, with great authority and confidence, a number of ideas that are just flat wrong. However, there is no internal evidence that Adams himself recognizes these as errors. Does Adams think that gravity propogates instantly, or that a magnetic field cannot be shielded? There is no hint of irony to indicate that. The book's nameless protagonist is completely clueless. In the dialogs of Socrates (to which other reviewers have compared this book), the people arguing with Socrates make good points, have cogent arguments. In this book, the Avatar has the debate all his own erroneous way. The result is that people who are not well grounded in science find a lot of claims that strike them as "challenging" and "thought-provoking" when in fact the claims are simply wrong, and well-known to be wrong. For the record here are some of Avatar's errors of fact: (p19) magnetic fields can't be blocked; (p19) gravity propogates instantly; (p22) we don't understand how electricity travels; (p61) there is no friction between the Earth and the Moon (the statements about gravity and the Moon are wrong in multiple ways); (p66) the theory of evolution is a "concept with no practical application". The Avatar advances a dangerous, nihilistic kind of epistemology. In plain language, he seems to dismiss all possible sources of knowledge as equally pointless. He dismisses mathematics as useless (p. 20-21, p56). He dismisses all of science ("all we can do is observe and record patterns," p.22) as being unable to provide "why" answers. Finally he says that all ideas are equally valid (p38ff) because they are all identically "memory traces" in our brains. This may be what others have called "New-Agey" but in fact it is nihilism and defeatism. As to the philosophy, it is basically self-contradictory. If you take the time to read the book, read it carefully and then actually think about the Avatar's basic claims: (a) God blew itself up in order to learn the one thing omniscience could not know, namely, what happens if God isn't there; but (b) God imbued his debris with a "probability" so strong that even if the universe were rewound and played back, exactly the same events would happen over again (p.51-2). These ideas are fundamentally contradictory, hence the whole exercise is pointless. The Avatar does pose a number of philosophical riddles that have been standard fodder for student bull-sessions for generations. Example: if God is omniscient (Adams incorrectly writes "omnipotent"), the future must be determined, hence how can we, or God, have free will? But the questions are only posed, never explored in any satisfying way. Go looking for better books in elementary philosophy.
Rating:  Summary: It makes you think Review: Its an interesting thought experiment and I found that I couldn't put it down. I think some of his science may have been slightly off but it was still an interesting read. If you like thinking about the Universe and what possible meaning the Universe could have then you might enjoy this book. I think its a good way to stretch you imagination.
Rating:  Summary: Short and Brilliant Review: Highly recommended as discussion material, and as a "thought experiment", not as gospel or literal truth. Adams states right up front that he does not agree with many of the ideas put forth in his work, and that he has chosen simplicity as the determining factor when choosing a theory to present. This leaves the reader free to cull meaning selectively, sometimes in a very literal fashion, other times in a very abstract way, rather than trying to make sense of the disconnected dialogs as a whole. Rather than beating an idea to death, most chapters are very short and sweet, without forced segues to the following chapter or idea. The work can easily be read in an afternoon, but nearly every page contains hours of discussion material. Definitely worth reading, and re-reading.
Rating:  Summary: This is Amazing Review: This was the most amazing book I have ever read, a fascinating exploration of a sort of neo-existential phenomenological view of God. The economics and probability of god-dust and its evolution back into one collective consciousness is the most fascinating story I have ever read. After reading this book, you will never look at the internet or religion the same way again. I started off reading the introduction in which Adams challenges the reader to decipher the ideas that he made up against those that are actually true, and after reading the book you may find that quite a challenge.
Rating:  Summary: Very worthwhile Review: I have nothing new to add the reviews already posted except that it is reasonable to think of this work as either religious fiction, science fiction or fantasy. The various puzzles may become more apparent with such a perspective. Personally, I first read it as a fantasy before I read it as a puzzle. It's great fun as fantasy.
Rating:  Summary: Interesting...It Definately is a Thought "Experiment" Review: Scott Adams, the well-known creator of Dilbert, takes a 180 degree turn from his popular cartoon series. This book tries to make you think of a few things differently than you have before. It tells a story of a man delivering a package to another old man who essentially tries to explain the mysteries of the universe. It is divided into several short chapters, each under a different topic. This book is also available as an e-book, which was how it was originally published. Contrary to how it seems at the beginning, this book isn't really fiction. It is also definately not funny or humorous in any way. Some of the ideas are pretty extreme and do provoke some thought. In my opinion, this book has quite a narrow audience. If you are looking for a good fiction book, this is not for you. If you are looking for something Dilbert-esque, or at the very least "funny" in some sort of way, this is Definately not for you. If you are a deep thinker who ponders the mysteries of the universe, or just an extreme Scott Adams fan, this book is a great choice.
Rating:  Summary: ... Review: Have you ever had one of those ideas that just permeated your every thought for days until you could finally unlock its secrets? This book has dozens of such ideas. "God's Debris" is probably the most thought-provoking thing I have ever read. I can't say enough about it. Mere words cannot convey how this book has changed my thought process. I can't recommend it enough.
Rating:  Summary: You have got to be kidding! Review: I'll probably lose my DNRC membership for this ... but ... I have to believe that had this book not been written by Scott Adams or someone with similar celebrity (cult) status it would be recognized as the shallow tripe that it is. Based on other reviews I kept waiting for something revelatory or thought-provoking to come out of this book. But instead, I got page after page of the meanderings of someone who just read their first metaphysics or self-help book and thinks they are now enlightened. No ... I haven't missed the point of this being a thought experiment. Even as a thought experiment it is amateurish in its content and in its presentation. High-school Creative Writing class kind of stuff. Mr. Adams is a wonderful cartoonist. "Dilbert" is one of my all-time favorite strips. Maybe someday Mr. Adams will be a good writer and have something deep and useful to say about life. But not yet. This book makes the inane "The Celestine Prophecy" look deep and profound in comparison.
Rating:  Summary: Who should read this book? Review: Most of the reviews here seem to miss the point that this book is about figuring out "what's wrong with the old man's explanation of reality." While the one star reviewers seem to have expected an inspiring and consistent vision of reality (of course it is not!), the five star reviewers seem to ignore the "intentional" inconsistencies within itself and with Physics and Philosophy. Sure, for someone unfamiliar with Philosophy or Physics, this book fills nicely and comfortably some white spots on her map of the world. And this is exactly what this book should NOT be used for. It is - if anything - the question, not the answer. But like to old man says: "Our perceptions are wondrously flexible, transforming our worldview automatically and continuously until we find safe harbor in a comfortable delusion." So who should read this book? Definitely not newcomers in this domain, because they will receive plenty of seemingly correct, but inconsistent "new information". For them I would rather recommend Fritjof Capra's "The Tao of Physics". It might be interesting for a student in this domain to sort out all the errors, maybe as a student assignment. If this is what you intend to do, go ahead! BTW, from a Dogbert point of view, this book deserves six stars. If you are a DNRC member, don't buy this book, but recommend it highly to you coworkers!
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